Old English

Old English is the earliest written phase of the English language. English is derived from dialects of North Sea Germanic spoken around the coasts of the North Sea prior to the 5th century AD. Tribes speaking these dialects included the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, who later settled in Britain. Once established on the island of Britain, the language gradually diverged from its continental neighbors. It appears to have been called "English" right from the outset (spelt Englisc in Old English), from the name of the Angles.

English was the first European language after the Classical period to develop its own nativeliterature. The most famous literary work in Old English is the epic poem Beowulf.

Old English is drastically different from Modern English and requires special training to be read today, as demonstrated by the following sample, the Lord's Prayer (11th century):[1]

Old English

Modern English

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum

Our Father, you who are in heaven,

Si þin nama gehalgod

Be your name hallowed.

to becume þin rice

Come your kingdom,

gewurþe ðin willa

be done your will,

on eorðan swa swa on heofonum

on earth just as in heaven.

urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg

Our daily bread (loaf) give us today,

and forgyf us ure gyltas

and forgive us our sins (guilts)

swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum

just as we forgive our sinners (i.e., sinners against us),

and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge

and do not lead us into temptation,

ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

but release us from evil. Amen.

The Old English period is conventionally regarded as coming to an end after the Norman Conquest of 1066 AD, when many French loan words entered the language. This new phase is called Middle English.